Bay Area - San Jose, San Francisco, Monterey-Carmel, Stanford

I can't get some pics to orient the right way, but this is one with a Giant Artichoke in Castroville!

After arriving into Patti & Bob's house Friday evening, we promptly went to our favorite sushi place (ever!) for dinner Friday night - Sushi Zono!  Our house was about 4 blocks away from this place when we lived in the area, so we got to know Haru the owner, and his son Eibo.  Eibo was behind the sushi bar when we walked in, so it was nice to see a familiar face.  Their version of the Las Vegas roll is the best one ever!  The girls concurred on the Zono LV roll after having one too!

We took it kind of easy Saturday morning at Patti's house.  Then we all went down to walk around downtown Los Gatos for a bit.  I used to hang out in this are a lot when I lived in the area.  I spent many an hour at LGBC,(now Loma Brewing Company - not as good IMO) CB Hannigan's (now closed), the Black Watch, etc.

Doing "the Larissa pose" in Pacific Grove!

We have learned that the best way to try and see as many people as possible when visiting an old haunt is to just find a gathering spot and time and let everyone know you'll be there.  If they can run by to say hi, great, if not, then we probably won't get to see you on this trip through town.  it just becomes too much effort to try and run around and go see everyone.  So we met a bunch of old friends at Stein's Beer Garden at the old Vallco Mall in Cupertino.  Thanks to everyone for coming to say hi - Maggie, Alix, Lauren & Sam and kids, Rick, Basile, Susan & Kevin and Mason, Patti, Diana and her family, Alec & Kristin, Jeff and Katie, Megan & Clay and Warden!  Hopefully I didn't leave anyone out?  It was fun to see everyone and catch up a bit!  Thanks for coming to say hi!

Slackettes at fortune cookie factory in SF.

On Sunday we headed up to SF for the day.  It is Gay Pride weekend, so we knew the city may be a mess, but we went anyway.  We decided to try and avoid the Market St. area as much as possible as that is where the Pride Parade was, so we initially went into the city on the West side and hung out in Golden Gate Park for a bit.  We just kicked around in the park, and found that the De Young Museum now has an observation tower with a great view of the city.  We went up into the tower, and got to see the Palace of Fine Arts, downtown, etc. from 9 floors up.

Cable Car ride in SF

The girls wanted Dim Sum, so we found a spot in Chinatown for lunch, and then went to a fortune cookie factory around the corner that one of the girls teachers had told us about!  I figured they were made by a machine, but it is all done by hand!  We walked up to the Cable Car Museum and saw the giant wheels spinning that keep the cable cars moving!After Chinatown, we rode the cable car over to Fisherman's Wharf area to kick around and see the sites.  The girls enjoyed going into the Ghiradelli store numerous times to get the free carmel/chocolate square handout!

When we first walked into the Cable Car Museum, we saw an Elastigirl (aka the Mom from The Incredibles) play figure that seemed as if it had been left on the bench by a kid.  It was still there when we were leaving the museum, so I picked her up and we began to take pics with her in various spots for fun!

Bish had made reservations for us to see Beach Blanket Babylon on Sunday afternoon (family friendly version of the show).  I had never seen it, but it has been a long running staple in SF for years (43!).  It was hilarious!!!  Very topical in regards to politics, famous people, Bay Area stuff, etc., as well as very entertaining!  I'd highly recommend going to see this show if you are ever in SF!

On Monday we drove down to Monterey-Carmel area, and then back up to Santa Cruz.  We kicked around in downtown Carmel first thing, and then drove over to Compagno's Deli for lunch.  Bennett, the owner is always manning the cash register, and seems like a crabby guy, but is actually a gem of a person!  He loaned us his 3 season passes to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on our last trip through the area.  Today he asked where we were from and what we were doing.  When I said "just kicking around" he told the girls to start kicking me!  Which they loved!  We drove through Cannery Row area a bit, and then headed up the coast towards Santa Cruz.  But not without stopping in Castroville for a pic with the World's Largest Artichoke!!!  :-)

Elastigirl in Carmel!

Thus far the "best line of the trip" was from Danica on our way into Castroville (North of Monterey/South of San Jose, and known as the "artichoke capital of the world!").  I had found a giant artichoke on Roadside America to take a pic in front of, and as we pulled into a parking spot in front of the place it was, Danica said, "Oh Jeez!"  Darby replied, "What?"  And Danica comments, "Did you not just see the Giant Artichoke?"  It was hilarious!

The girls were not into the rides/Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk as much as Bish had thought, so we just walked around a bit and they played a few games (aka - I overpaid for shitty stuffed animals!), and then we drove up the hill to UC Santa Cruz campus for a visit to the bookstore.  How can you pass up the opportunity to get a Banana Slug souvenir? (Think John Tavolta's t-shirt in Pulp Fiction!)  We then headed back over the hill and stopped and had a beer at the old LGBC (now called Loma Brewing - not as good IMO) and played some cards at the table while Bish and I enjoyed some tasters.  We ran into our old friend Tom who we know from Sushi Zono as he was sitting at the bar.

Elastigirl at "Mem-Chu" aka Memorial Church on Stanford Campus.

Tuesday was meant to be a rather slow/catch up day since we knew we'd be hitting the road on Wednesday again.  Everyone slept in, and we left just in time to run by Amato's for lunch cheese steaks!!!  After lunch, we drove up to Stanford for a tour around campus.  We try to show/expose the girls to various universities during our travels so they will have a better feel for what types/size of colleges they might be interested in when they get to that age.  Bish showed us around soem of the areas she remembers from her days on campus, including the church in the middle of campus which was really cool!  We walked over to the athletic field area to say hi to my buddy Joel who maintains all of the athletic fields on campus.  It was good to see him and catch up a bit.  Afterwards we were all kind of tired, so just went back to Patti's for a quiet evening and some pizza.

Elastigirl with the cheesy stuffed Minion and pillow we won at the Boardwalk.

On Wednesday morning, we headed up the Redwood Coast, or as my buddy Jeff likes to refer to it as "Behind the Redwood Curtain!"